Soap holder for washboards



July 22. 1924.

M. J. MURPHY ET Al.

SOAP HOLDER FOR WASHBQARDS Filed April 17. 1922 Patented July 22, 1924.

MARY J. ll/IURIE'HY, OF ST. PAUL, AND OLIVE SANDBANK AND WILLIAM AT T Fil Li].

SANDBANK,

or NEW YORK MILLS, MINNESOTA.

soar HOLDER roe wAsHBoAnns.

Application filed April 17, 1922. Serial No. 554,088.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, MARY J. MURPHY, OLIVE SANDBnNK, and WILLIAMSANDBANK, citizens of the United States, residing at St. Paul and NewYork Mills, respectively, in

the counties of Ramsey and Otter Tail, respectively, and State ofMinnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in SoapHolders for Nashboards; and we do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame. This invention relates to a washboard and particularly to apositioning and holding means for such a board. As is well known, awashboard is usually provided with a soap receiving recess adjacent thetop portion of 2 the rubbing surface. It is generally the practice inwashingarticles on a washboard to take the bar of soap in the hand andrub over the articles spread out on the rubbing surface. As the soap iswet it isslippery and hard to handle and is often dropped into the waterof the tub causing delay and vexation in recovering the same.

It is an object of this invention to rovide a novel and efiicient meansfor hol ing the soap in position.

It is a further object of the invention to provide such a means by whichthe soap can be held at different heights relative to the rubbingsurface of the'board and in such position that the articles washed canbe rubbed up over the soap.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be fullyset forth in the following description made in connection with theaccompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer to thesame parts throughout the different views, and in which,

F ig. 1 is a view in front elevationof the washboard with the deviceapplied thereto; and V Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on the line2-2 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the washboard is shown comprising a frame 1and the usual roughened or corrugated rubbing surface 2. Adjacent thetop of this rubbing surface is a fixed transverse member 3, the topsurface of which is substantially flush with the top of the rubbingsurface. Spaced from the member 3 is another transversely extendingmember 4 having its ends disposed and guided in slots 1? in the sides ofthe frame. This member is adapted to be moved or pushed toward themember 3 by a wedge member 5 having a groove formed in its surfaceadjacent the member 4 which engages with the rib 4* on said lattermember. This wedge member 5 is provided with a hand hold 5*"- forconveniently withdrawing it from clamped position. The wedge member 5also contacts and co-acts with another wed 'emember 6 reversely disposedto the mem er 5 and located between the same and the top portion of thewashboard. The wide end of the wedge member 6 has a tongue portiondisposed in the groove 1 and the other end thereof has'a tongue portionheld and slidable in a staple member 7 also secured to the top member ofthe washboard frame.

From the above structure it is seen that by moving the wedge member 5,the member 4 will be moved toward the member 3 and a bar of soap I) canbe clamped in position be tween the members 3 and 4. r V

A plate member 8 isprovided adapted to be disposed between the members 3and A and to form the bottom of the soap receptacle formed therebetween.This member 8 has its top surface provided with punchedout holes orcorrugations to secure a firm contact with the soap. A pair of crankarms 9 formed of small rodsor wires are mounted for oscillatory Imovement, being journaled in small staple-like bearings 10 and in themember 0. These arms have their cam portions underlying the member 8which is loosely mounted and supported thereon. The crank members 9 haveupstanding and bent ends 9 adjacent the top member of the washboardframe, which ends are connected by a bar 11 pivotally connecting thesame. A rack or ratchet tooth meniber 12 is attached to the top surfaceof. the member 6 and has its teeth disposed so that the upwardlyextending portion 9 of one of the arms 9 may be engaged by said teeth.

The soap 6 will be placed on the member 8 and the bar 11 which isprovided with a convenient handle or holding means 11, will be swungupwardly and to the left, as seen in Fig. 1. This will swing the crankarms 9 upwardly raising the plate 8 and the bar of soap 6. When thelatter is at the desired height, the vmember 6 will be moved upwardly sothat the portion 9? of the crank arms will be engaged by the member 12and held between two ofthe teeth of the same. The wedge 5 will be pushedto the right, as seen in Fig. 1 and the bar 4 will be pushed downagainst the bar of soap 6 and firmly clamping the same adjacent the baror member 3. At the same time, the wedge member 6 will be pushedupwardly and held in firm and clamped position with the member 12 pushedfirmly against the portion 9 of the crank arm. The upward movement ofwedge member 6 may be effected entirely by wedge 5, if desired, Themember 8 is thus firmly held in its adjusted position and the soap istightly clamped at its sides. WVith the soap held as shown, it will notbe necessary to take the bar and rub the same over the clothes. Theclothes can be brought up and rubbed over the soap which will be foundto be a much more convenient and equally efficient method. As the bar ofsoap is worn, it will only be necessary to readjust the'member 8 tobring the top surface of the soap in the correct relation to the rubbingsurface 2.

From the above description it is seen that applicants have provided asimple and eiiicient soap holding and clamping means for a washboard andone which will have greatutility in connection therewith. The parts ofthe device are comparatively simple and can be easily made of woodatsmall expense. The rack bar 12 will be preferably ofmetal and theplate 8 will preferablybe made of wood with a covering of roughenedor'corru gated metal.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made inthe form, de tails and arrangement of the parts without departingfromthe scope of applicants invention, which, generally stated, consistsin the matter shown and described and set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. The combination with a washboard having a roughened surface, of afixed transverse member at the ,top of said surface, a secondtransversely extending member spaced from and movable toward and fromsaid member, a pair of longitudinally extending reversely arrangedwedges above said last mentioned member, a soap elevating mechanism, oneof said wedges being longitudinally movable transversely of said boardand parallel to said surface to move said last mentioned member towardthe first mentioned member to clamp the soap in position and to movesaid other wedge to engage and lock said soap elevating mechanism infixed position.

2. The, combination with a washboard having a rubbing surface and asoapreceptacle adjacent thereto, of a movable bottom in said receptacle,an operating means for said bottom disposed at the front and within thesides of said board and above said rubbing surface for moving saidbottom to different positions to support a bar of soap in differentpositions relatively to the rubbing surface, and means at the front ofsaid board adapted to be manipulated by the operator for holding saidfirst mentioned means in the desired position.

3. A washboard having a rubbing surface and a soap receptacle, a movablebottom in said receptacle, a pair of rotatable members journaled in saidboard each having an eccentric portion engaging said bottom to move thesame forwardly, a common means for rotating said 'members, and a lockingmeans engaging one of said members for holding said bottom in adjustedposition.

4:. A washboard having a rubbing surface and a soap receptacle, amovable bottom in said receptacle, a pair of spaced movable memberssupporting said bottom rotatable about axes extending longitudinally ofsaid board and a locking means for said members for holding the same andsaid bottom member in various adjusted positions.

5. A washboard comprising a rubbing surface and a fixed member extendingacross the top of the same, a member movable toward and from said memberto clamp a bar of soap thereagainst, a wedge member longitudinallymovable parallel'to said rubbing surface above said last mentionedmember, a second reversely disposed wedge member above and co-operatingwith said wedge member and movable vertically of, said board in a planeparallel to said rubbing surface, a soap elevating means having anoperating member above said last mentioned wedge member, said firstmentioned wedge member actuating said second mentioned member to clampthe soap and actuating said last mentioned'wedgemember to lock said soapelevating means andoperating member in stationary position.

6. The structure set forth in claim 5, a pair of crank arms extendingunder said movable member having crank portions extending between thesame and the first mentioned member, a soap holding plate disposed onsaid crank portions, and means for swinging said crank arms to move saidplate to'various positions.

7. The structure set forth in claim 6, and a rack bar secured to saidsecond mentioned wedge member and adapted to engage one of said crankarms to hold the same and said soap carrying plate in position.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures.

MARY J. MURPHY. OLIVE SAN'DBANK. WILLIAM SANDBANK.

